Quote Originally Posted by Greenbeanz View Post
Have started this as a quick snack before the other Updikes arrive. Got it in a big pile of Murakami's from the local Charity shop.




He seems very different from the guy I imagined after reading some of his novels. It talks about the process of writing also, which is very instructive as I have started to do so again, in a much more structured,consistent and considered way.
Finished the Murakami now. Can't really say it gives too much insight into his personality but it was an interesting distraction. I have now started this, the fourth and final book in John Updike's Rabbit tetralogy



Rabbit at Rest is great so far, and he does not seem to have let his brilliant prose fall below the bar he raised so high, with the previous three books. It is set in the late 80's, early 90's and the central character is now in his mid 50's. Not a lot happens but the books do not need a plot to hold your attention. It is Updike's acute observation of people and their reaction to the world around them that pulls you through it. Harry Angstrom the central character is constantly amazed and confused by everything that happens. Not just the external world but his own body and the condition of being, what it is to be a human living in a body that is gradually sinking back down to the earth from which it came. He is not J.G.Ballard but I would definitely have him in my top 5. Great stuff.